Markup and margin are notthe same number.
A 50% markup is a 33% margin. A 50% margin is a 100% markup. They measure the same dollar of profit against different bases, and confusing them is how shops quietly under-price themselves. Enter your cost, pick which percentage you know, and this converts cleanly to the other — plus the price and profit per unit.
Your numbers
What one unit costs you landed: product plus freight, duties, and packaging, before you price it.
Type the percentage you already know. The mode switch above sets whether it's a markup or a margin.
You entered a markup (measured against cost). The margin below is what it leaves against the selling price — always the smaller number.
The verdict
Price
$75
Margin
33.3%
Markup (entered)
50.0%
Profit per unit
$25
Where the price splits
Reference · the conversion that trips everyone
Markup → margin, at a glance
| Markup | Margin it leaves | Price on this cost |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | 9% | $55 |
| 25% | 20% | $63 |
| 50% | 33% | $75 |
| 100% | 50% | $100 |
| 200% | 67% | $150 |
Notice the spread: doubling cost (100% markup) is only a 50% margin, and 200% markup still leaves just 67%. Margin can never reach 100% because profit can't exceed price. Whenever someone quotes you a percentage, ask which base it's measured against.
Your move
I make sure your prices fund the business, not just the spreadsheet.
50% markup on $50 cost → $75 price, 33% margin, $25 profit/unit.
Knowing the conversion is step one. Knowing which margin each line of your catalog needs to clear overhead, ad spend, and discounts is the real work. Send me your costs and prices and I'll show you, free, where markup-thinking is quietly starving your margin — and what I'd re-price first. You keep the findings either way.
Plain English
Same profit, two different denominators.
Markup and margin both describe the gap between what a unit costs you and what you sell it for. The difference is what you divide that gap by. Markup divides the profit by your cost; margin divides it by your price. Same numerator, different denominator — which is exactly why the two percentages never match.
Because price is always larger than cost, the margin percentage is always smaller than the markup percentage. A 50% markup means you added half the cost on top, which works out to only a 33% margin once you measure it against the bigger selling price. Treat them as interchangeable and you'll routinely price as though you keep more than you do.
This converter keeps the two honest. Tell it your cost and the one percentage you have — markup or margin, your choice — and it returns the price, the matching percentage, and the actual profit per unit. No mental gymnastics, no pricing a 50% markup while budgeting for a 50% margin and wondering where the money went.
The formula
Markup % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Cost · Margin % = (Price − Cost) ÷ Price · Margin = Markup ÷ (1 + Markup)
A $50 unit at a 50% markup sells for $75 — a $25 profit. That $25 is 50% of the $50 cost (markup) but only 33% of the $75 price (margin). Flip it: if you want a 50% margin on that $50 cost, you price at $100, which is a 100% markup. Same product, very different math.
Reading the conversion
You set the price from markup but budgeted on margin.
Re-run every line on the margin number — it's always the smaller one. A 50% markup funds a 33% margin business, not a 50% margin one. Plan overhead and discounts against margin or you'll spend money you never actually kept.
Your margin came back far below your markup.
That's not an error, it's the math. As markup climbs the gap widens: 100% markup is a 50% margin, 200% markup is a 67% margin. Margin can never reach 100% because profit can't exceed price. Use this converter before you ever quote a percentage.
You need a specific margin to cover costs.
Don't start from a markup and hope. Switch to 'I know the margin', enter the margin you must keep, and read off the markup and price it requires. Price to the constraint, not the habit.
A supplier or marketplace quotes you in markup, your accountant in margin.
They're describing the same spread from opposite ends. Convert once here so everyone's working off the same price and profit-per-unit instead of arguing past each other in mismatched percentages.
Using markup and margin without getting burned
01Budget on margin, price with markup
Markup is the easy lever at the shelf; margin is what actually pays the bills. Decide the margin you need, convert to the markup that delivers it, then price.
02Remember the asymmetry
Margin is always lower than markup, and the gap grows as numbers rise. 25% markup is a 20% margin; 100% markup is a 50% margin. Never assume they're close.
03Use true landed cost
Freight, duties, packaging, and payment fees are all cost. A percentage applied to an incomplete cost produces a margin that doesn't survive the register.
04Convert before you discount
A 20% off coupon comes straight out of margin, not markup. Know what a promo does to the smaller number before you run it, not after.
05Quote one base, consistently
Pick markup or margin for internal pricing and stick to it. Mixing the two across a catalog is how SKUs end up priced from two different rulebooks.
06Sanity-check against keystone
Doubling cost (keystone) is a 100% markup and a 50% margin — a handy reference point. If your conversion lands wildly off that, recheck which base you entered.
The vocabulary
- Markup %
- Profit measured against cost: (price − cost) ÷ cost. A $50 cost sold at $75 is a 50% markup.
- Margin %
- Profit measured against price: (price − cost) ÷ price. That same $75 sale is a 33% margin.
- Unit cost
- What one unit costs you landed — product plus freight, duties, and packaging — before you price it.
- Price
- What you sell one unit for. Always larger than cost when you're profitable, which is why margin is always below markup.
- Profit per unit
- Price minus cost: the dollar gap both percentages describe from different angles.
- Keystone
- Pricing at exactly 2× cost — a 100% markup and a 50% margin. A common reference point for sanity-checking a conversion.
Markup and margin, straight answers
Markup is profit as a percentage of cost; margin is profit as a percentage of price. Same dollar of profit, different denominator. Because price is bigger than cost, margin is always the smaller number — a 50% markup is only a 33% margin.
Keep going
A calculator tells you what. A call tells you what to do about it.
Send me the account behind these numbers. I'll tell you straight where the money's leaking and what I'd fix first — free, and you keep it whether you hire me or not.